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Friday, December 5, 2014

For Christmas this year I wanted to do something fun for Josie that she couldn't ruin. She is so fun and energetic but if she can climb it, knock it over or break it, she will so I remembered a pin on pinterest I had seen last year and decided to do it! This project was pretty easy and didn't cost very much either!

Here is what you need!

I bought all of my supplies at Michael's and used their mobile coupon (50% off a single item)

3x3 Green Felt ($3.99)

1 Sheet Brown Felt (.29)

1 Sheet Yellow/Gold Felt (.29)

Any other color sheets for oraments

Velcro pieces if you have small children

Blue Painters tape

White or other light chalk

scissors

I found a kit for a banner that I used instead of cutting out a bunch of ornaments because it was on a big clearance. ($2.50)

Here's what you do...

I started by drawing a tree outline on the green felt with the white chalk

It's hard to see because of the white but you get the idea

I did mine in 4 tiers but you can do it however you like! Next you will cut it out. I didn't like how mine was turning out and felt like I could not get the 2 sides to look the same when my sweet husband suggested I just fold it in half and cut out the side I like...genius!

Again, Hard to see but just showing the half that I chose.

Now that you have the tree you will want to cut out a star and trunk. I cut out an extra star that wouldn't stay on the wall because I knew Josie would want to play with it and sure enough within minutes she was reaching for it and out came the spare!

I then started on my ornaments. I would have cut them out individually as planned but I found this gem on my way to checkout and gave it a try which was a life saver because I started this at 10 pm and was beyond tired.

If you can't see this well it is a Christmas Banner kit and I believe it was $2.50 and my lazy side LOVED that price.

This is where the velcro comes in. I bought the square kind and cut them in half. This was just to help them stick a little better since Josie is too little to put them up and rub them down to stick fully. It has been a lifesaver and since I didn't apply the other side to the tree it's not too sticky.

After that your tree is ready to be put up! I used Blue painters tape to prevent wall damage.

We let Josie play with this first thing in the morning and the PJ's felt so appropriate! Her oh's and ah's were so worth the effort (the little that it required) and made for such a fun activity!

She loved taking them off and putting them back on over and over again!

Naturally things got silly but we had so much fun with this all day that I cannot wait to play with it all season!

I hope this will be a fun activity in your house and that your kids will love this as much as Josie did!

Friday, November 14, 2014

*If you are visiting us from Pinterest WELCOME!! please check out our other posts and see what we have been up to under our roof!*

I am so proud of myself for finally cleaning my microfiber couch today! This is the first couch that Doug and I bought together and at the time it was our dream couch. It fit perfectly in our first apartment and was nice and neutral. The salesman probably thought it was the easiest sale ever because the price was right and we loved it. The micro-suede blend was a huge convincing factor for me because from what I had heard it was the best when you have kids, pets, blah blah blah...well no one told me that every drop of liquid makes a lovely mark no matter how fast you clean it up. When we built our house we got a different sectional for the family room and used this one in the basement for extra seating but when we moved the size of this one was the better choice for rentals so it made the big move with us.

Needless to say after 4 years, 2 dogs and now a 1 year old it was looking a little sad. I have been meaning to rent a cleaner and take care of this for a while but then we started sippy cup training and it seemed pointless to clean it until she was a little better at it because our little girl is a tornado of mess and spills everywhere.

Well the other day I walked into the room after cleaning it from top to bottom (besides the couch) and found all that I could see was the nasty couch not the spotless room. If you fear dirty couches do not look at the following picture just close your browser now...

I know, its bad not just yuck but like what the heck happened to your couch?? I swear it got really back in like 2 days but regardless of what I tell you I am now judged. Hopefully nobody who personally knows me is reading this post...or maybe you more than anyone else would understand me :) Oh well, embarrassment aside lets clean this bad boy!

I had a lovely experience in an earlier post where I had to remove Pen ink from my couch thanks to the same lovely child of mine and had a super easy time getting it out so rather than going out and buying any chemical cleaner or renting a machine I thought I would try the same solution and it worked!

So here is all that you need:

Rubbing alcohol/Isopropyl Alcohol

Spray bottle

Sponge or towels

Vacuum

Clean dish scrubbing brush

I already had all of these things which made me want to try this method even more.

Lets get started so your couch can never look like mine!

I started by vacuuming because I didn't want any hairs or excess dirt spreading around.

Then I used my spray bottle full of Rubbing alcohol to saturate the areas that I needed to clean...so basically the entire thing :)

I focused especially around the first foot or so in on the couch because that is where little hands reach easiest while she is playing on the floor and so those areas are extra scary.

After saturating it I took white towels to scrub out the dirt. I used white to make sure there isn't any color transfer to the couch. Better safe than sorry!

I kept switching to a clean part or new towel (sponge if that is what you are using) to make sure I was not just spreading dirt around.

After you complete all of the scrubbing let it dry completely. I picked a sunny day so it only took a few hours to fully dry. The reason that the Isopropyl alcohol works better than scrubbing with a water solution is that it evaporates more quickly therefore not leaving a ring or water mark.

Here is what my couch looked like after it dried and I vacuumed it again to revive the fibers. You can also use a clean/new white or tan dish scrubbing brush to rub the fibers back out to match the original texture. Whichever works for you!

I was thrilled with my results and even more shocked after at how dirty it really was but as Elsa has taught me after countless hours of Frozen "let it go" and so I will just be happy that it is clean!

I hope that you will have as much success as I did!

*I recommend doing a test section on your couch in a hidden spot to make sure that this method works for you before soaking your whole couch!*

Feel free to ask any questions or let me know if this technique worked for you!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

So I am really excited to share something completely new to my blog with you today! As you all know I absolutely love to do projects and my husband and I do not shy away from color. We love the way it makes us feel when we are in a space and we love how it can impact a space from accents to main pieces. So I teamed up with Charish.com to do a room design to show everyone how to choose fun pieces and change the basic neutral look of a room to make it fun and colorful. Charish has so many fun Accent Chairs which make adding fun pops of color so easy! I also love how stylish they are because so many chairs can feel "cookie cutter" and boring but I promise these will be the first spot in your room people will sit! Check out the site HERE.I hope you will like the fun look I have created and get your mind flowing for some new additions to your house!
Here is the living space I designed!

I chose a gray couch for the functional color and great fabric. For larger pieces like this I like to choose a neutral because the couch will be around for many years and your taste in color pallets and trends will evolve so this is a great basic couch.

I would layer these pillows together infusing color without being obnoxious. I love this pillow because it introduces so many colors and is a nice blend of fun and sophisticated.

I wanted to use a while pillow with the bright pillows to keep it light in the room but not overwhelm the couch with color. You could easily use another neutral in place of the white if you are not a white pillow fan.

This area rug was perfect for the space. It brings in more texture and pattern while staying neutral to allow the chairs and pillows to stand out.

These are the chairs I chose to use from Charish and I couldn't love this pairing more! They have a nice wide rounded shape which gives the perfect vibe of relax here all while looking amazing. I of course love the bright blue because it is so versatile as well as a great statement.

I chose this table to be placed between the chairs to provide function while looking gorgeous against the bright blue. I carried over the curved look while keeping the traditional feel blending with the other pieces in the space.

These accent pillows chosen for the chairs are the cutest reminders of where we came from and keep the fun and comfortable vibe flowing in the room. I felt like they would contrast beautifully with the chairs and could even be placed in a nice basket on the floor next to the chairs if you prefer empty chairs.

I used the Utah pillow representing where I come from and the West Virginia pillow representing my husbands home state! I love these cute homemade pillows.

This lamp goes on top of the table to add that extra light that we always need in rooms as well as topping off the perfect sitting area with the circular white shade and chrome base.

I went with a sheer white curtain in this room to keep the light fun feel for the room and I love light to just pour in my windows! I would hang them floor to ceiling for effect and you could even layer them with a privacy curtain if you have nosy neighbors.

I hope you will all be inspired by the amazing furniture on the Chairish website and will be bold and infuse some color in our all to often white world!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Removing Ink From Your Couch Cushions!

Well I hate to have to share a post like this because it means little Josie got a hold of a pen and did a number on my couch but thank goodness I know how to get it out and I wanted to share this with you today!

Here is a look at what she did to our sectional.

I know what you are thinking..."where were you??"

I was gone less than a minute I'm sure of it and she went to town!

Now here is the beauty of this cleaning trick! It is so easy all that you need is

Rubbing Alcohol

A Towel (I like it a little damp)

and a spray bottle (or just a more wet cloth)

All you have to do is cover the area of pen on the couch with the Rubbing Alcohol

I let it sit for just a few seconds and then rub it out with the slightly damp towel.

This is what happens! It's a Miracle!

This is after I have used the spray bottle and just lightly sprayed it and wiped it all up. I find this dilutes the remaining alcohol and avoids leftover "wet spots".

Now just let it dry and it is like it never happened!

**Note: Test a section of your couches fabric in a non visible spot before treating the rest of the couch in case your material does not work. **

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

There's no such thing as too many hair accessories for your little one, right? Well today I wanted to share my good find that turned into a great DIY project! I absolutely love the felt bow trend but I am not yet brave enough to make my own and I don't want to spend $5 for one tiny little flower or bow so until now I have just window shopped for them.

This was a lucky find! I found these cute bows and flowers in the $1 check out line bins at Michaels. You heard correctly, $1 for each bundle!

I am a sucker for a checkout line deal but this one was one I could not pass up and I think I got one of each color! (how could I not ?!)

So let me show you how easy these are! Mine took me about 30 minutes to do all of them and now miss Josie has 24 new hair bows! (she is much less excited than I am)

To start you will want to get something to fasten them onto. My baby has a ton of hair so I chose to use double pronged clips (sally's) rather than headbands but those would be adorable as well! I also recommend getting an 8x10 sheet of felt from the craft store as well (these are under $1).

What you need:

Felt Flowers or bows

Extra Felt (I used grey and white)

Single or Double Pronged clips

Glue gun

Scissors

First, I wanted to line the clip to make it hold better in the hair as well as give the flower or bow more of a surface to grip. I did this by cutting out a piece of felt that fit between the 2 sides and ran along the top of the clip as well.

I found it fastest to fold the felt over clipping the clips along it and then cutting in between rather than individually measuring each one out.

After I did that I took them off of the felt and put glue along the whole strip and inserting the clip as far as it went and then folding the rest over the top of the clip sandwiching the top inside.

After that has set until cooled (by the time you do them all the first ones are ready to use) all you need to do is use a small amount of glue on the top of the clip and attach the flower or bow!

That's all there is to it! And now you have adorable clips for your cute little one!

These come out to about $.39 each! I like that price!

asking this new little sitter and almost crawler to be still was nearly impossible today!

As always I love your feedback! Let me know how it goes for you and even share your pictures with me!!